The New Mandated Wood Treatments And The Fasteners You Use
Prior to 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency mandated
that less
environmentally harmful formulations for treated
wood would be phased in by 2004 and the old
formulations would be phased out. Unfortunately,
those new formulations were significantly more caustic to
metals and to bare & coated fastener products. In response to these changed
formulations, FASPAC Inc.
undertook the task of developing a new coating for
our exterior use products that would be compatible with these
new formulations/chemicals. The result was Fastap™ Duracoat XT™.
An exterior grade fastener coating far better than
any competitive coating on the market today.
Independent laboratory testing has shown that Fastap™ Duracoat XT™ is fully compatible with the new type ACQ and CBA treatments in salt spray tests...installed, and in the tough Kesternich test Fastap™ Duracoat XT™ far surpasses any other coating as well. The results of these independent laboratory tests follow. SALT SPRAY TEST The standard salt spray test continuously exposes unused fasteners to a fog of water vapor with a 5% salt content at a temperature of 95° F (35°C). The result is the number of hours the fasteners last in this environment until red rust appears on the product. The independent laboratory went a step further in their testing by driving the screws coated with Duracoat XT™ twice into separate pieces of lumber treated with either CBA or ACQ. Note: Both treatments were controlled samples from the chemical manufacturers. In each case, six screws were driven into the treated lumber, and then put through the salt spray testing. The Duracoat XT™ coated screws went through 3,636 hours without the appearance of red rust. There were no failures of the Duracoat XT™ coating. Competitive products tested under the same conditions had red rust appear at 957 hours or less. KESTERNICH TEST The Kesternich Test is used to replicate acid rain conditions. This test involves mounting the screws into foam blocks and exposing the products to 100% humidity with sulphur dioxide (SO2) introduced into the sealed cabinet. Each cycle of the Kesternich test is a 24-hour period. The results are measured in the number of cycles (24-hour periods) that the product lasts before the appearance of red rust. This test is used to detect the defects in a surface coating in environment conditions of concentrated sulphur dioxide. Fastap™ Duracoat XT™ went through 40 cycles of the Kesternich test without any red rust appearing. Again, there were no failures of the Duracoat XT™ coating. Competitive products tested under the same conditions failed at 2 cycles, 14 cycles, and 17 cycles. RESULTS Fastap™ Duracoat XT™ is independently proven to be compatible with type ACQ and CBA treatments, and passed the Kesternich test beyond any competitive coated fastener. Any manufacturer should be able to back up their claims with independent test data. More test figures are available at our "Product Information/Technical Documents" link (above) or click [HERE] to go to that document. NOTE: For Chemonite™ type (ACZA) treatments use Fastap Tech 7™ stainless steel only.
|
|